Date set for jury selection in trial of man accused of killing Tori Stafford

Jury selection in the trial of a man accused in the 2009 kidnapping and killing of eight-year-old Tori Stafford will begin Feb. 27, 2012.

Tori was last seen walking home alone from school on April 9, 2009, in Woodstock, Ont., a small city located west of Toronto. The remains of the third-grader were found three months later under a rock pile more than 100 kilometres away from her home.

Michael Rafferty, 30, faces one count of first-degree murder and one count of abduction for Stafford’s disappearance.

The jury pool was expected to be more than 1,000 people, the accused’s lawyer, Dirk Derstine, said on Wednesday.

A number of pre-trial motions will be heard for four weeks in London, Ont., starting Jan. 16. A publication ban has been placed on the content of the arguments.

Last year,Mr. Rafferty’s ex-girlfriend, Terri-Lynne McClintic, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in the little girl’s death and was sentenced to mandatory life imprisonment.

McClintic confessed to purchasing garbage bags and a hammer the day Tori had disappeared and that she had lured the girl by promising to show her a puppy.

Mr. Rafferty’s trial is expected to draw international media attention when it gets underway in the new year. It was moved from Woodstock to nearby London because it was argued that Mr. Rafferty, a local resident, would not be able to get a fair trial in the hometown he shared with the murdered girl.